London, England, July 2015 – Global Handprints, a social enterprise, announced it is raisng funds via a rewards and equity crowdfunding campaign. The company set out to raise a minimum of £50,000 on StartSomeGood.com to develop and establish a Community Development and Volunteer Centre; a base for volunteer teaching placements that will upskill locally trained teachers.

Global Handprints believes that children all around the world should not only have access to education but that it should be an education in which the teaching competes at an equal, international level. Amidst an emphasis on children becoming Global Citizens, Global Handprints believes that in order for children to truly do so, they first need to be global learners, being taught by teachers who share skills and experience with their international colleagues. This is an exciting time in which there has been a great deal of development in international education and following the MDGs, the Global Goals for Sustainable Development address Quality Education, aiming to “ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.” World leaders will continue to focus on education, improving access and standards across the world as part of their ‘ambitious, long-term agenda to improve people’s lives and protect the planet for future generations.’

Global Handprints plans to launch an active, hands on approach to bridge the skills gap currently occurring between teaching in the western world and developing countries. Their Teachers teaching Teachers (TtT) project will enable international, fully qualified teachers to spend time at schools in rural South Africa exposing locally qualified teachers to new ideas, techniques and approaches they can bring into their classrooms. International Volunteer Teachers will run workshops, observe lessons, model methods and strategies, and share their skills. In turn children will benefit from a developed, higher standard of teaching making them more likely to be able to compete as global citizens alongside their international peers in the business and social impact worlds.

Global Handprints is raising funds to establish a Community Development Volunteer Centre, a hub from which Teachers teaching Teachers (TtT) placements can be run and in which the community will have involvement.

“By setting ourselves up within the community, we will be seen as members rather than outsiderswho try to help but ultimately leave. The Centre will operate as a base for volunteer placements also generainge jobs for local people and helping to empower and inspire community members to develop their services. By doing so, we are giving ownership over what we do to local people.”

Lottie Reeves, Campaign Manager.

Global Handprints offers volunteer placements at grass roots projects in South Africa. Global Handprints has a social mission to inspire people to recognise their potential both at home, within their local community and in a wider, international context; empower them to achieve this and to evolve locally established projects and services to meet the needs of their communities.

Global Handprints was run as a non-profit from 2010 then was registered as a company limited by shares in November 2014. It runs as a social enterprise with a financial mission to invest profit into the communities it is part of. Global Handprints is owned by Lottie Reeves and has previously fundraised for community developments including keeping a school open for a year and building a new library. They have most recently launched Volunteer Road Trips.